Tuesday Evening

The folks are here!

Meanwhile, Rache has been on an expedition to the door! There and back. Really tough for her, but still progress.

Tuesday, mid-day

Rache is in fine spirits today, and has been spotted sitting in a chair! This is a big deal, so take the time now to applaud. Go on. I'll be here when you're done.

I'm waiting?! I don't hear you, there, with the blue shirt on...

Ok that's better.

So, physical therapy is continuing, and arrangements are being made for it to continue from home once we're back there. Steady progress, and we're all quite pleased, especially Rache.

Looks like a release from the hospital tomorrow is less likely now; don't be surprised if it is Thursday before we're outta here. The Dr. (and Rache!) want Rache to be confident about moving around before she's sent home.

Plus, I think she's starting to like the food here. I spotted her asking the food service folks for the recipe for their beef barley soup.

The Folks arrive from Blighty this afternoon. I'll be trekking to the airport (in my fully fueled Cadillac) a bit later to drop off my brother Lee (thanks for sending him, Jenny!) and pick up the parents. All carefully choreographed. I'm a care-taking MACHINE!

for your amusement and boundless delight, here's a picture of my Torino. It has no gas, because I haven't found any Premium!

Monday / Tuesday overnight update

Monday PM update

Another venture UP, and some additional pain for the trouble. But, it's getting better each time. Just going to take time and practice!

Great news! More flowers!

Up.

Folks came in and got Rache up again this morning, and let her sit a bit. Pretty painful, and she's got no strength (naturally) in that hip. Using her "good" hip causes lots of pain in her bad one, so things are difficult.

But still, it's progress!

Monday morning..

Got here this morning and Rache was watching TV and munching some cereal. Awake, obviously, and looking pretty spry. She's still got a headache, they're trying to help with that. Rachel thinks it might be a sinus headache from the little oxygen tube.

Dr. Schrader was by again this morning, inspected, poked and prodded, and everything is looking good.

Brought in the crutches this morning, so she can try those out some time, too. 

Sunday evening...

Just left Rache to rest for the evening. She ate some dinner, and is quite relaxed and probably pleased with her own day. Eating, standing, off all the IV's and the medication pump.

The oral percocet seems to be working well for her, managing the pain without quite as much drowsiness. Huzzah!

So, now Lee and I are (with Alan, but not Susan, because she doesn't like us) at the Brickstore enjoying a pleasant beverage. And Alan is mocking me for BLOGGING!

Sunday afternoon update!

Physical Therapist lady was just here, and with the assistance of the nurse, Rache was UP UP UP!! She swung around, sat up and stood on her walker a few times. Very good progress by all accounts.

She's kind of looking forward to her dinner, I think, after all that exercise. But it's fish, which might not be so good.. Time will tell.

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!

Saturday night was pretty uneventful. Rache got some sleep, and watched a little TV. Lee and I had dinner at Cakes & Ale, and watched some TV.

This morning, we arrived back at her room around 8:45 to find Rache awake, smiling a bit, and having consumed a banana for breakfast. And some apple juice.

Dr. Schrader has been by already this morning to remove the dressing from her wound and remove the drains. Everything is good there. Moving today away from the pump for pain medication to some tablets. Rache doesn't like the other stuff because it makes her too drowsy.

Sometime later today, the Physical Therapy folks are coming by to see if she can get up for a while. That should be quite an event.

Yesterday, Rachel wanted to move in the bed some, to be more comfortable. The nurses valiantly tried to help her roll over a bit to adjust her back, but the pain was too much, and Rache apologetically asked them to stop.

About 2 hours later, still uncomfortable and now really annoyed with it, Rache decided to try again. Lee and I moved the pillows, but she just hauled herself around the bed with her good leg and her arms on the overhead bar they provide for just such a thing. Way to go, Rache! Determined, as always, and successful at what she tries.

More flowers last night, these from Lee and Jenny.

Saturday Afternoon...

Lee and I went to get some lunch, and stopped at Lowe's to look for a new pump for the fountain. They have Christmas stuff out. Great. I want to get some new ornaments for the tree ASAP!

Rache is doing pretty well, in my medical opinion. Pretty strong pain, naturally, but also discomfort with her back from laying around. Other than that, she has been deemed a very healthy person, aside from the surgery! I'm very proud of her. I wouldn't endure any of this, that's for certain.

Dr. Schrader was by earlier, and indicated all is well so far. Blood tests are good, no sign of anemia, etc. He's coming by again tomorrow, and the drains will probably be removed then, and the Physical Therapists will try to get Rache up and around a bit if possible. Big day.

More flowers today!

This picture turned out pretty dark; they're from Aunt and Unk down in Florida.

 

 

And, more flowers, these from the Arnette clan.

Note my use dazzling advanced formatting in the post today. To quote The Monarch... "I have been BLOGGING!!" 

Saturday Morning

Long night for Rache last night. Pain in her hip, annoying pain in her back, and an uncooperative pain machine. They swapped out the machine, and moved her IV to her other arm, and it's better.

She's doing her little spirometry machine like she's supposed to, and looking forward to a cup of tea!

More flowers! These are from out mid-occidental way.

FINALLY!

Some flowers! We've been in this damned room for... Like an HOUR with no flowers! Whew.

(You know I'm joking, right?)

First quote after the surgery...

"Have I still got that stupid hat on?
Take that thing OFF!"

Lunch!

This, good people of internetland, is the McSurf-N-Turf. Suitably fortified, I should see Rache soon.

Done!

Dr. Schrader just came out, and said everything went very well. She has "very girly bones" which is a good thing. Of course we knew they were girly bones, of course they are!

No blood transfusion, everything went well. She's currently in recovery, awake. They'll let us know when she's off to her room.

Somebody remind me that the Dr. said to keep the leg straight, and not let it flop over!

And going, and going....

Still going. 11:45.

And she's on the way!

Well, after getting up super early (for Rache,) and wheeling our way over to Northside Hospital this morning, Rache is now in surgery. Met a whole lot of folks, and they all seem focused and competent. Except for me.

They administered some "relaxation medicine" which made an already relaxed wife into a super-relaxed wife. Note to self. Medicine is weird.

Oh, here's a picture!

Go, baby go!!

The night before...and all was quiet...

Apart from the overwhelming number of text's, phonecalls, voicemails and facebook messages from family and friends I've received throughout the day today.

It's such a great feeling to have so many people routing for you...and one that gives me even more confidence and courage for the days ahead.

This won't be long post, and I even contemplated not posting at all, but figured I should. Figured I needed to, if only as a way of passage into tomorrow.

I'm packing my bag...with the few things I'll need in the first day or two. Jim will of course bare the brunt of my requests to 'bring me X...and don't forget to bring Y' but I know he will be all too glad to do those things. You see my husband is a wonderful man - and one who cares deeply for me. He is not a lover of the 'medical' profession, but I know he has every confidence in Dr. Schrader and that makes me really happy.

Well, as I need to be up at the crack of dawn (4:45ish) I am retiring to my bed, with a few good last gulps of water before 'nill by mouth' kicks in.

One last thank you goes to Lauren, who left me a very special and heartfelt voicemail tonight... thank you for all words of encouragement and support...they mean a lot. Please come visit (preferably after the first few 'rough' days!)

Alrighty kiddo's, I'll see you on the other side. Keep watching the blog for updates from Jim.

-Rache

Destination: Mall

So, it's a Saturday, and I like nothing more than to visit the mall on this day.
I guess it's always what we did when we were growing up and I've never really outgrown it. Saturday was the day we went 'down town'.

And today shall be no different. In fact today, I plan to carry my little hip around that mall until I can carry it no more! One good last shopping day for a while, I'm thinking, since how much shopping can you really do on crutches!?!?

I have specific things I need to pick up...so it wont be the wandering into every store like the good ole' days, but I do plan to spend a couple of hours for sure.

Pretty much wrapped up all the 'medical' stuff before my op. Had the pre-op assessment interview with Northside which took all of 30 mins and was conducted by a very softly spoken and calming nurse. One thing that really gave me a lift in my day is finding out that I can wear nail polish for the surgery!!!! Which, for anybody that knows me will know i LOVE my nail polish. Never a day without it, toes and fingers....so this was VERY exciting for me since I had just assumed, like the good ole days that the surgeon needed to be able to see your nails in case of a color change....

Got my blood work done, and was presented with a red hospital bracelet which I'm supposed to wear from the time I had my appointment (Thurs) until I go into surgery. Why? apparently that bracelet is the only thing that connects me to the 2 units of blood that will be on standby, and you bascially have to fill out a form that says if you lose, or do not have it on you at the time of surgery you will be subject to costs. Needless to say, it's really big on my wrist, so I slipped it off and have it ready to go next to a bag I will take with me next Friday morning.

Other things this week....

My new swanky DELL laptop arrived that Hubby Jim got for me...so we've been surfing the web from the couch, which is cool. I have the blog loaded and ready to roll, I just need to find out from Northside if they have wireless access or if we need to buy a 3G card...

I have decided to take next Thursday off from work. Rita, my cube neighbor and great colleague convinced me to 'have a day to chill'. And whilst I was originally planning to take half day on Thursday, I'm now just taking the full day. I don't want to be stressing about trying to get stuff done at work, and then not feeling like I've had time to relax etc. So THANKS Rita for the convincing...you talked me into it!

OK, that about wraps it up.
I'm certain I'll post again before the main event, probably on Thursday to share some pre-op jitters with you all :)

this time next friday....

I will be back in the hospital room, and probably very out of it....after a successful LPAO!

Had the pre-op meeting with Dr. Schrader last Tuesday and all is moving according to plan.... although there were 2 minor changes....

1) I had been told 7.30am by the nurse, thinking of course that I would 'check in' at Northside for 7.30 with my surgery taking place around 9ish. WRONG. Turns out my SURGERY is AT 7:30, which now means we have to be at the hospital for 5.30am. Oh joy. not only am I convinced I'll have a crappy night, the night before, but now I have even less time to get a good nights' sleep - hey-o, I'll survive.

2) I had just assumed that my incision was going to be straight up the front of my thigh over my hip....WRONG. Schrader informed me that my incision would be 'different to Lauren's' in that it would go around the side of my hip (which I've seen in some of the other hip chicks photos). I actually feel pretty good about this latest change, since I'm hoping the scar might hug, heck, even be covered by a bikini...either way, it won't be sticking out the bottom of my shorts!

In other news....

My Millenia Crutches arrived... I originally ordered the gray ones, thinking they would be metallic and match my car (yeah, yeah, I know...) but then Ken from Millennial Medical (absolutely fantastic chap!) called and said they were out of the 'nice' gray and that the latest batch looked a little ....well....'medical'. Needless to say, I changed my mind and went for the racing red!

A big shout out to Millennial Medical...Ken was great, customer service to beat any other. I would highly reccommend them. I got the 'In-Motion PRO' crutches, since I figured the spring loaded bottom would give me an extra boost!

My plan while I'm in hospital is to while away the hours with the low-effort, low-focus act of 'decorating' them with stickers....so I'll be taking a trip to Michael's this weekend to stock up on the glittery kind :)

I have my pre-op interview with Northside this Thursday, and I need to return to get my pre-op blood work done for the cross-match for the 2 units they'll have on standby. That'd be A Negative PLEASE, Red Cross!

Not really much more to do other than wait for next Friday to roll around.

Hubby Jim is now set and ready to go as the interim author during the first few days after the surgery...and I know you'll enjoy his ramblings..and potential rantings :)

I'll post again before the main event...